FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Checking flight details while on flight
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Old Nov 12, 2017 | 10:11 am
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TWA884
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Originally Posted by wxman22
I have to hold my phone against the window or sometimes on the armrest under the window for it to work. It usually takes a minutes to acquire the GPS.
Originally Posted by waffle
It should, although whether or not you can get a GPS signal depends on your phone and its ability to "see" enough GPS satellites from where you're sitting, not any specific app.
I had two LG phones, G2 and G4, that took forever to lock onto a GPS signal. My current Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge locks onto a GPS signal within 30 seconds at the most and often faster, even at 38,000 (at a window seat).

Originally Posted by JVIA
Actually, my goal was to basically know where I am flying over at any given time.

I try to always get window seat and many times I find myself looking out of the windows to beautiful landscape, or cities, or whatever, and honestly, I would love to know what am I looking at.
Originally Posted by waffle
I like Galileo because it displays altitude and speed as well as position, but in a pinch even Google Maps should do the trick.
I'll have to try Galileo. Currently I use Google Maps to know where I am and GPS Status for altitude and speed information.

There is one more app that I occasionally use, Flyover Country, which is discussed elsewhere in this forum. It is a National Science Foundation funded offline mobile app for geoscience outreach and data discovery.
The app exposes interactive geologic maps from Macrostrat.org, fossil localities from Neotomadb.org and Paleobiodb.org, core sample localities from LacCore.org, Wikipedia articles, offline base maps, and the user’s current GPS determined location, altitude, speed, and heading. The app analyzes a given flight path and caches relevant map data and points of interest (POI), and displays these data during the flight, without in flight wifi. By downloading only the data relevant to a particular flightpath, cache sizes remain reasonable, allowing for a robust experience without an internet connection.
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